Built to Be Beautiful

Delegates to this week's "Earth Dialogues" forum will be meeting at the Palais des Congrès, part of Lyons' new Cité Internationale complex, designed by Renzo Piano. Cité Internationale also includes a new Contemporary Art Museum and is one of the more recent additions to the city's 2,000-year

architectural history, along with a renovated opera house by Jean Nouvel, the futuristic Saint-Exupéry Airport station by Santiago Calatrava and even a municipal parking lot by architects Jean-Michel Wilmotte and Daniel Targe and artist Daniel Buren. (For a glimpse, check the inverted periscope in the Place des Célestins.)

Lyons is...